Re: RFC - GNU System Distribution

[Alfred M\. Szmidt]

   4. "System" is highly ambiguous.  When we say "GNU is not Unix"
   this begs the question "what is Unix"?  It is certainly not a
   kernel, a product you can buy, or an ISO you can download.

Sorry, your history is quite wrong.  UNIX is a "product you can buy",
UNIX was produced by Bell Labs during the 1960-80, and was shipped
with the PDP machines from DEC.  Nowadays, it is the OpenGroup who has
a trademark on the name "UNIX", and they allow systems that implement
the POSIX specs. to use it (I don't know the details about this, so I
might be wrong in some little detail).

   7. We should not publicise the existence of the GNU OS until it is
   in a state where one can download a bootable CD or DVD image, pop
   it in the drive of a computer with an unformatted hard drive,
   install it, and end up with a GUI login to (probably) a GNOME
   session.  The GNOME session should provide ethernet access to the
   Internet and run the most useful free software for end users:
   Email, WWW browser, IM client and Office suite.  (OpenOffice?
   GNOME Office?).

It should also be stable.  Which GNU Mach isn't.

   OK, that last point was just a wish.  But how far away are we from
   achieving this?

Depends, GNOME runs under the Hurd, but it is also dead slow.  I/O
access is horrible.  The system is unstable.  Device drivers need to
be written, there is no sound (and users will want sound!).  So we are
there, but yet far away, sadly.

   And I presume in all this we are talking about the kernel being the
   Hurd, not Linux?

Yes.

   Is there room for a non-programmer to help in this project?

Ofcourse, you can write documentation, look for bugs, help users, etc
etc.  Lots of work for non-programmers to do.  But only you know what
you want to do, and this is where we can't help.  Find something that
you think is lacking, and work on that...